Why We Care

Why We Care

UFH Campaign Provides “Taxpayer Profiles”

May 22, 2017

The “Resources” page on the United for Homes (UFH) website includes images for Twitter and Facebook, data, fact sheets, and other tools to assist advocates in spreading the message about the simple UFH solutions to homelessness and housing poverty in America: reinvesting savings from modest reforms to the mortgage interest deduction (MID) into affordable housing. The website provides Taxpayer Profiles that show how the UFH reforms would affect different kinds of households with different incomes and tax circumstances.

The factsheets compare how each family fares under current law – wherein homeowners who itemize can deduct the interest paid on mortgages on first and second homes up to a total of $1 million– to how each would fare under the proposed UFH reforms – wherein homeowners would receive a 15% non-refundable credit for interest on up to $500,000 of a mortgage. By converting the MID to a 15% tax credit on up to $500,000 of a mortgage, 25 million low and moderate income homeowners with mortgages would get an additional tax break, and $241 billion would be saved over ten years to be reinvested in affordable housing for families with the greatest needs.

One fact sheet, for example, shows that the UFH reforms to the MID would affect a married couple under 65 with no children as follows:

Lower Income – Household with an income of $45,000 and a mortgage interest payment of $4,000. Under current law this family would owe $2,904 in taxes. Under the UFH proposal the family would owe $2,304 in taxes, a $600 tax reduction.

Middle Income – Household with an income of $80,000 and a mortgage interest payment of $8,000. Under current law this family would owe $8,194 in taxes. Under the UFH proposal the family would owe $6,994 in taxes, a $1,200 reduction.

Higher Income - Household with an income of $200,000 and a mortgage interest payment of $20,000. Under current law this family would owe $35,155 in taxes. Under the UFH proposal the family would owe $35,291 in taxes, a $136 tax increase.

The Taxpayer Profiles can be used in meetings with members of Congress, on social media, in interviews with reporters, or in op-eds.